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Last week, MAHA proudly announced that the FDA Panel appointed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr had approved 6 of 7 Peptides over the objections of FDA scientists.

The vote is a win for HHS Secretary Kennedy and MAHA, opening a path for compounding pharmacies to prepare BPC-157, TB-500 and four other popular peptides by prescription.”

The vote was close: RFK Jr’s personal appointees outnumbered FDA scientists concerned that the peptides have not been shown to be safe or effective.

RFK Jr believes in peptides and loaded the panel with his appointees; six of his eight appointees sell peptides.

The FDA raised concerns about conflicts of interest, but to no avail.

This panel is strictly advisory.  The FDA does not have to accept its recommendations.

The big question: Will the FDA accept this recommendation or reject it?

• If the acting head of FDA, Kyle Diamantas, accepts the panel’s recommendation, it will be a political, not scientific, decision.
• If he rejects the panel’s recommendation, he risks losing his job.

At stake: the FDA’s role as a science-based regulatory agency.

Principles anyone?

What this is about

Peptides are small proteins (50 or fewer amino acids), some of which have regulatory actions in the body.  The best examples are GLP-1 drugs.

They have to be injected; if swallowed as pills, they would be destroyed by digestive enzymes.

For what this is about, see the excellent account in the New Yorker: Why Are People Injecting Themselves with Peptides?

The ones just approved by the FDA committee are claimed (without much in the way of evidence) to do fabulous things for health.

Peptide sellers have pushed hard for the FDA to approve them.

Comment

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence for the benefits of injected peptides, but no real science.

Peptides are in a regulatory limbo.  Supplements are virtually unregulated as a result of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. Consequently, you have no way of knowing if you are getting what the label says you are getting.

But peptides are injected, and not regulated under DSHEA.  That’s what this committee is trying to fix.

Caveat emptor!

I can’t wait to see what Diamantas does on this and what happens to him if he does the right thing and rejects the panel’s recommendations.

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Here’s how I learned about this one:

KSM-66 ashwagandha may support cognition and sleep in children: Supplementation with KSM-66 ashwagandha root extract in gummy form for eight weeks is well tolerated and may enhance cognitive performance and sleep quality in children between the ages of 6 and 12, according to new research…. Read more

One look and I immediately wanted to know: Who paid for this?

To its credit, NutraIngredients said so right away:

Shri Kartikeya Pharma, India, which manufactures and supplies KSM-66 ashwagandha extract, provided financial support, the test product and a matching placebo for the study.

I dug up the original paper:

• The study: Saxena A, Lopresti A, Sharif M, Elon N, Suri R and Langade DK (2026) A clinical assessment of the therapeutic effects of Ashwagandha root extract on cognitive performance, sleep, and fatigue in children aged 6–12 years. Front. Nutr. 13:1742138. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2026.1742138
• Rationale: “Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera L.Dunal) is an adaptogenic herb known to reduce stress and enhance well-being in adults.”
• Methods: randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, parallel-group trial in children with parent-reported concerns related to attention, concentration, or memory.
• Results:supplementation significantly improved speed of information processing, and non-significantly improved delayed word recall, Stroop task accuracy, Corsi block span, choice reaction time accuracy, and parent-reported sleep quality.
• Conclusion: “These findings suggest that an eight-week supplementation with ARE is well tolerated and may enhance cognitive performance and sleep quality in children.”
• Funding: “The author(s) declared that financial support was received for this work and/or its publication.This study was sponsored by Shri Kartikeya Pharma, India, which provided financial support, study intervention (Ashwagandha root extract), and a matching placebo for both study sites. The Sponsor had no role in data analysis, interpretation, or manuscript preparation.”
• Conflict of interest: “The author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.”

Comment

Most of the study results were non-significant; “may enhance” equally means “may not enhance.”  As always, I’m amused by the denial of conflicted interests, as if funding by the maker of the supplement was not sufficient as a conflict.  I think it is.

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Pub date is September 8. Pre-orders through UC Press get a 30% discount. Use promo code UCPSAVE30.

I was interested to run across this article announcement:

Nestlé researchers find Taurine-B vitamin blend may support motivation: A study in healthy adults found that daily supplementation had a positive impact on motivation, attention, mental energy and effort toward achieving goals after 14 days of intake…. Read more

It immediately raised the question: Why would Nestlé researchers do this study?

I went right to the source.

The study: A nutritional blend of taurine, vitamins B6, B9, and B12 improves motivated behaviors in healthy adults—a double-blinded randomized clinical trial. Front. Nutr. 13:1711478. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2026.1711478

Methods: …we identified candidate nutrients found in foods that could enhance brain GSH [glutathione] production as a possible approach to sustain motivated behaviors….we discovered that taurine was able to efficiently increase GSH production…but only when levels of vitamin B9 were adequate. The above led us to test a blend of taurine, vitamin B6, B9, and B12 in humans, in a randomized, double-blind, 2-arm, cross-over study with 44 participants aged 25–40 years old.

Results: Results showed significant improvements after 14 days supplementation in the first period, as well as after 28 days in the second administration period, compared to placebo.

Discussion: Overall, these findings demonstrate how targeted nutritional supplementation can sustain brain health and modulate behaviors, such as motivated and goal-oriented performance.

I learned about this one from a sponsored article in the online newsletter, NutraIngredients:

Magnesium L-threonate delivers effective cognitive support, studies show:  Demand for cognitive health support has never been higher. Unique ingredient can unlock high magnesium bioavailability, studies show…. Read more. 

I went right to the site it and saw this, first thing:

When I clicked on “Learn more,” I got this:

Translation: This article looks like a scientific report but it’s actually an ad for the supplement, magnesium L-threonate, which Threotech patents and markets as Magtein.  Indeed, Threotech says it is “Dedicated to the worldwide expansion of Magtein.”

The article summarizes studies showing impressive improvements in memory and cognition with this supplement, and provides a bunch of references to studies, some of which were also funded by Threotech.

When I say things like this, companies write me in despair: If they don’t do the studies, who will?

That’s my point.

Studies like these are important for selling supplements.

But magnesium is widely available in the diet: “Good sources of magnesium include green leafy vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains….”

Magnesium is another reason for eating plenty of foods from plant sources.

Since passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, supplement products became basically unregulated.  The FDA is no longer allowed to monitor these products and only gets involved in situations of egregious harm.  Otherwise, you have no way of knowing if their labels have anything at all to do with what is in those bottles.

Here are recent items on safety and adulteration issues with supplements (particularly turmeric), and the Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman’s comments on corruption in the supplement industry.

SAFETY

• New outbreak traced to moringa capsules under investigation: Investigators from the Food and Drug Administration are looking into a new outbreak of Salmonella Newport infections traced to moringa powder capsules. The implicated capsules are sold under the Rosabella brand…there is great concern that consumers may have the moringa capsules in their homes because of their long shelf life, which stretches into late 2027. This outbreak is separate from an outbreak of Salmonella Richmond infections traced to Member’s Mark and other brands of moringa.
• South Korea re-evaluating turmeric, green coffee bean due to adverse reports: South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) is re-evaluating the safety and functionality of turmeric extract and eight other functional ingredients.
• Health Canada calls for warnings on turmeric/curcumin supplement labels: Health Canada has mandated warning labels on turmeric and curcumin natural health products (NHPs) to indicate the risk of hepatotoxicity, following a review that found potential liver health risks, although rare.

ADULTERATION

• Ginseng aduleration remains a significant concern, says BAPP review: A scoping review by the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program highlights that nearly 25% of commercial ginseng products may be adulterated, especially dietary supplements, due to species substitution and presence of undisclosed pharmaceutical ingredients.
• Turmeric adulteration presents significant opportunity for responsible industry: More than one quarter of turmeric supplement may be adulterated, according to a new comprehensive literature review by the ABC-AHP-NCNPR Botanical Adulterants Prevention Program (BAPP)…. Read more

CORRUPTION

Paul Krugman on dietary supplements: How the Kakistocracy Became a Quackistocracy

It may seem strange to think of the wellness industry as a corrupt and corrupting force comparable to the fossil-fuel sector. But wellness is big business. McKinsey estimates that U.S. spending on wellness is running at around $500 billion a year, while spending on nutritional supplements alone was close to $70 billion last year.

And sellers of nutritional supplements, unlike companies selling pharmaceuticals, are effectively allowed to make false, outlandish claims about what their products do…It’s OK to peddle snake oil with false medical claims as long as you mumble some content-free boilerplate.

And where do the snake-oil salesmen peddle their wares? Largely on right-wing media. After all, that’s where they can find customers who have the right mix of anti-intellectualism and disdain for experts. And the snake-oil purveyors are, in turn, a key part of the extreme right’s financial ecosystem.

I wrote about this almost five years ago. The relationship between quack medicine and right-wing extremism has a long history…But now we have entered a new era. As many observers have noted, the Trump administration is a kakistocracy: rule by the worst. A history of personal corruption is no longer a bar to high office — it’s practically a requirement.

 

When I see a study with a title like this, my first question is “Who paid for this study?”

The title:  Association of Egg Intake With Alzheimer’s Dementia Risk in Older Adults: The Rush Memory and Aging Project. The Journal of Nutrition Volume 154, Issue 7, July 2024, Pages 2236-2243.

The study: It collected dietary data by food frequency questionnaire from older adults (average age 81) and assessed Alzheimer’s dementia after nearly 7 years of follow up.

Results: Eating 1 or 2 eggs a week was associated with decreased risk.

Conclusions: “In conclusion, these findings suggest that more frequent egg consumption is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s dementia, and this association is partially mediated through the effect of dietary choline on Alzheimer’s dementia…Once replicated in other prospective cohorts and confirmed by clinical trials, these findings may have important public health implications for reducing the population’s risk of AD.”

Funding: Funding for the Rush University qualifications of choline intake was provided through an unrestricted investigator-initiated grant from the Egg Nutrition Center to Think Healthy Group, LLC…The authors and sponsor strictly adhered to the American Society for Nutrition’s guiding principles for private funding for food science and nutrition research.

Conflicts of interest: One author is the Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Dietary Supplements and has received past research support from the Egg Nutrition Center.

Comment: At first glance, this is a standard egg industry funded study with an outcome favoring frequent egg consumption.  But egg consumption in this study—one or two a week—does not seem frequent to me.  What this study may really be about is choline, a conditionally essential nutrient (we make our own, but not always enough).  The “important public health implications?” Eat more eggs and take choline supplements, I guess.  If only.

NutraIngredients-Europe, a newsletter I subscribe to, published this gem: Salmon nose cartilage for younger skin?  Supplementing with salmon nose cartilage could significantly reduce signs of skin aging in the middle aged…. Read more

What’s great about the newsletters in this series is that they provide references.  I went right to this one.

The study: Clinical Trial of Salmon Nasal Cartilage-Derived Proteoglycans on Human Facial Antiaging: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study.  J Cosmetic Dermatology, 2025;24(7):e70218.  https://doi.org/10.1111/jocd.70218

Background: “Proteoglycans (PGs) derived from salmon nasal cartilage are believed to have antiaging effects on the skin.”

Methods: This was a two-month double-blind, placebo-controlled trial comparing 20 mg PG to a placebo.

Results: “Subjects receiving PG supplementation showed significant improvements in skin elasticity and hydration…with reductions in skin roughness and wrinkles…and a significant decrease in melanin content and brown spots.”

Conclusion: “Our findings suggest that daily oral intake of 20 mg PG effectively improves skin health by enhancing elasticity, hydration, and reducing signs of aging such as wrinkles and pigmentation.”

Funding: “This study was supported by the Shanghai Huiwen Biotech Corp. Ltd., Shanghai, China.”  As NutraIngredients-Europe helpfully explains, “Founded in 2001 as a spin out of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Huiwen Biotech Co. produces its salmon nose cartilage powder using a water-based enzymatic extraction process.”

Comment: My big question: How do you harvest salmon nose cartilege?  I’m trying to imagine how they do this.  Oh well.

Dietary supplements never fail to fascinate me.  There is so little evidence for their benefits, and what evidence there is almost invariably is paid for by whoever profits from them.  Never mind.  If you are worried about wrinkles, you can give this a try.  It is unlikely to be harmful–the supplement should soon be broken down by enzymes.  Whether they really do anything or not, supplements make takers feel better.  Worth it?  You decide.

Jellyfish supplements are a new one to me.  Here’s study claiming that they improve cognitive function and memory.  If only it were that easy.

The study: Neil E. Wolkodoff, Gerald M. Haase, Joyce A. Curry, (2025), Effects of a Jellyfish Collagen-Based Amino Acid Supplement on Cognitive Function and Memory: A Pilot Investigation, J Clinical Research and Reports, 19(5); DOI:10.31579/2690-1919/532

Purpose: The goal of the current study was to evaluate the effects of oral consumption of an encapsulated powder form of a proprietary jellyfish extract on global cognitive parameters during an eight-week open-label trial in middle-aged and older adults.

Method: The study consisted of supplement consumption twice daily for eight weeks with an at-home, computer-based standard cognitive battery completed at pre-study baseline and at the end of the trial.

Results: EEG total reaction times…decreased by 130 milliseconds and combined trail-making scores demonstrated a reduction of test time by 12 seconds. Both were statistically significant…over half the individuals throughout the study period voluntarily reported positive outcomes, especially related to alertness, energy, focus, and sleep/dream patterns.

Conclusions: This pilot investigation showed that taking a proprietary oral jellyfish collagen supplement may offer meaningful benefits for overall cognitive function and brain activity.  The supplement, derived from marine invertebrate collagen, appears to be a promising way to support brain health in healthy middle-aged and older adults.

Comment: This is one of those studies that immediately raises the question: “Who paid for this?”

The funder: The supporting entity, Certified Nutraceuticals, Inc., had no role in study design or execution, data collection or analysis, or manuscript preparation. CN did provide product and testing support for the study.

To this, I say, that’s what they all say.  Sometime it’s actually true, but mostly it’s not.  Funding influences.  And not always in your best interest.

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